BARBIE REVIEW

 *MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS*

Since the launch of the doll in 1959, Barbie has become one of the best selling toys of all time and is still popular today. It’s easy to understand the wide appeal of Barbie as there are countless types of the doll and is a part of people’s childhoods, including mine. Like a lot of young girls, I grew up playing with Barbie dolls, however, the early 2000s saw her appear in straight to video animated films inspired by fairy tales, including Barbie In The Nutcracker, Barbie as Rapunzel and Barbie of Swan Lake. I also remember playing with some of the computer games inspired by the animated film, including Rapunzel. However, as I approached my teen years, I quickly lost interest in the doll as I believed she was a children’s toy. Since September 2009, there have been several plans to make a live action film based on Barbie, with Amy Schumer attached to the role of the doll at one point. However, it wasn’t until 2019 when it was announced that Margot Robbie would be portraying Barbie and, two years later, a director was found in Greta Gerwig, best known for impressing with her teen drama, Lady Bird, in 2017, and her adaptation of Louise May Alcott’s classic novel, Little Women, in 2019. Excitement for Barbie quickly grew when Ryan Gosling was cast as Barbie’s love interest, Ken, with supporting roles being provided by famous faces such as Kate McKinnon, Will Ferrell, Michael Cera, Simu Liu, America Ferrera, Ncuti Gatwa, Emma Mackey, Issa Rae and Kingsley Ben-Adir. As a result, Barbie quickly became one of the most anticipated films of 2023. 

Barbie and Ken are having the time of their lives in the colorful and seemingly perfect world of Barbie Land. However, when they get a chance to go to the real world, they soon discover the joys and perils of living among humans.

Released on the same day as Christopher Nolan’s epic biopic, Oppenheimer, Barbie provides audiences with a thoroughly entertaining comedy that focuses on the iconic doll. While Gerwig’s script, which she co-wrote with her partner, Noah Baumbach, explores themes of feminism and the inequality between women and men in modern society, parents wanting to take their children may be surprised that it’s not just a silly film about Barbie experiencing the real world. The first half is similar to Disney’s live-action/animation hybrid film, Enchanted, which focused on a two dimensional animated princess being sent to New York City. While Enchanted was more family friendly, Barbie will probably have a wider appeal, due to its themes and mature references. While Gerwig and Baumbach’s script highlights the difference in rights between women and men, Barbie isn’t “anti-men” as the media have made it out to be, in order to prevent people from seeing it. Their script is simply highlighting the unfair inequality between the two genders and why both should have the same rights. What’s most impressive is that Barbie remains a silly comedy throughout and never takes itself too seriously. 

While the film is a celebration of all things Barbie related, Gerwig knows that the doll has set an unrealistic standard for young girls wanting to look like her. Because of this, she chose to create a film in which she would be both "doing the thing and subverting the thing", in the sense that she would be celebrating the feminism behind Barbie while also noting the controversial beauty standards associated with it. This is why Barbie is so much better than expected as it could have just followed a typical fish out of water narrative with Barbie, however, it develops into something far more meaningful. The film also explores the relationship between a mother, Gloria (America Ferrera) and her teenage daughter, Sasha (Ariana Greenblatt). Their relationship is where Barbie is at its most heartfelt and I can imagine their scenes will resonate with mothers and their teenage daughters. With Barbie, Gerwig continues to establish herself as a talented filmmaker with her unique take on the world’s most famous doll.

Aside from Gerwig’s work behind the camera, the entire cast all deliver fun performances as the various Barbies and Kens. The standouts are, obviously, Robbie and Gosling who bring the dolls to life through their amusing portrayals. Robbie succeeds in developing Barbie into more than a plastic doll and portrays her as someone who wants nothing more than for women to have the perfect life, perfect house, perfect jobs and perfect days. However, that soon changes when Barbie visits the real world and she learns that reality isn’t perfect. Robbie perfectly captures Barbie’s perfections, however, what’s most impressive is that she humanises the doll. Since her breakthrough role in Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street a decade ago, Robbie has impressed with a wide range of roles including as Harley Quinn in the DCEU (DC Extended Universe) films, Tonya Harding in I, Tonya, and in Damien Chazelle’s epic drama, Babylon, just to name a few. Her role as Barbie further proves why Robbie is one of the best young actors working today who rarely fails to impress. Alongside her, Gosling delivers one of his funniest performances as Ken who is only having a good day when Barbie looks at him. In my opinion, Gosling is one of the most versatile actors who has delivered impressive performances in a variety of genres. He’s delivered charming performances in comedies such as Crazy, Stupid, Love, The Nice Guys and the Oscar winning La La Land. Gosling has impressed with serious performances in films such as Half Nelson, First Man, Blue Valentine and Drive. With his latest role as Ken, Gosling shows off his comical skills with his amusing portrayal. Michael Cera is a scene stealer as Allan, the only doll who isn’t a Barbie or a Ken. It’s clear that the entire cast are having a lot of fun on the set of Barbie and, as a result, I enjoyed watching them.

This time three years ago cinemas were closed internationally as a result of the deadly pandemic. While they briefly reopened in the summer of 2020, they were forced to close down again, before officially reopening in 2021. During this period, cinemas struggled to regain its audience, with most of them favouring streaming services such as Netflix. This weekend saw cinemas packed with audiences seeing either Barbie or Oppenheimer or both in a phenomenon known as “Barbenheimer”. I visited my local cinema to watch both films and, as someone who has been visiting the cinema since I was a child, it made me so happy to see cinemas packed again. While I do occasionally watch films at home, I always prefer watching them at the cinema as I’m easily distracted at home and I find myself on my phone and pausing the film frequently. For me, cinemas provide the perfect form of escapism through entertaining films and that’s certainly the case with Barbie.

8/10